Question

To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2025 to Question 45675 on Candidates: Expenditure, whether the Electoral Commission releases candidate returns under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Electoral Commission does not release candidate spending returns under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Representation of the People Act 1983 requires returning officers to make candidate spending returns available for two years. As such, spending returns are considered reasonably accessible by other means, and so are exempt from disclosure by the Commission under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act.